Things to do in Cardwell

Cardwell national parks and parks

Hinchinbrook Island

Protected since 1932, Hinchinbrook Island is one of Australia's largest island national parks (39,900 hectares). It is within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and is separated from the mainland by the scenic Hinchinbrook Channel.

Surrounded by marine park waters, the fringing reefs and seagrass beds are home to some vulnerable species, including dugong and green turtles.

Hinchinbrook Island is renowned for its range of habitats including misty, heath-covered mountains sandy beaches, paperbark and palm wetlands, and extensive woodlands. Patches of lush rainforest and eucalypt forest descend to a mangrove-fringed channel in the west, with sweeping bays and rocky headlands along the east coast. The island's mangrove forests are some of the richest and most varied in Australia and are an important breeding ground for many marine animals.

For thousands of years the Bandjin Aboriginal people lived on Hinchinbrook Island. Middens and fish traps are reminders of their special culture.

The island's Thorsborne Trail is recognised world-wide and was named after local naturalists Margaret and Arthur Thorsborne.

Activities

Bushwalking (hiking), swimming and fishing, viewing wildlife.

Camping

There is camping available in the park.

Location

Hinchinbrook Island is eight kilometres off the Queensland coast at Cardwell.

Edmund Kennedy, Girramay National Park

Edmund Kennedy, Girramay National Park boasts natural beauty combined with a diverse range of landscapes. The low-lying area has a wonderful variety of vegetation including lowland rainforest, open eucalypt forest, paperbark woodland, sedge swamps and extensive mangrove forests that include most of the mangrove species found in Australia.

During the wet season a deluge of rain flows from adjacent ranges to flood the creeks and swamps. As the floodwaters subside, the swamps become a tranquil setting, the water stained with tannin from the tea-trees. During cooler, drier months the swamps dry out.

This diverse wetland park is in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area and provides valuable habitat for the vulnerable estuarine crocodile as well as the endangered mahogany glider and southern cassowary.

Wallaman Falls, Girringun National Park

The park has the highest single-drop waterfall in Australia, Wallaman Falls. It is also part of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area and home to some of the oldest rainforests on Earth including many rare plants and animals.

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